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Ship Types
This is a list of the various types of ships. Civilian Types Colony Ship A colony ship was a vessel used to transport colonists and materials to colonize a planet. Before the invention of the Warshawski sail, all colony ships were sublight craft. ( ) Construction Ship A construction ship specialized in the building of structures in space or on inhabitable environments. Grayson owned some of these vessels. ( ) Courier A courier was a small vessel used to transport personnel. It was similar to a dispatch boat. People's Navy couriers used automated message transfer systems to handle message traffic, which only notified the crew of special headers like "immediate response required". Without the proper authorization codes it was physically impossible to decode or in any way access classified message traffic, to prevent tampering or other unauthorized access. The only way to access the files was to use either the addressee's access codes, or StateSec HQ's override software. ( ) Dispatch Boat A dispatch boat was a small vessel used for interstellar communication purposes. They typically massed around 40,000 tons and had a crew of ten. In order to provide message security, most modern vessels were designed not only with software and hardware firewalls, but also used physical separation to prevent systems such as navigational computers, which may be slaved to traffic control stations such as Manticoran Astro Control, from being used to access a message bank. Dispatch boats were capable of high rates of acceleration, sacrificing comfort for speed, allowing some to pull 800 gravities of acceleration. ( ) Fleet Maintenance Vessel They were operated by the Royal Manticoran Navy to provide on the spot repairs to vessels, who are severely damaged and unable to return to a shipyard under its own power. (HH1) Freighter A freighter was a type of civilian vessel used to transport material and people. The size of freighters ranged from megaton ships to very small ships. ( ) One of the predominant freight shipping corporations was Hauptman Lines, a sub-company of the Manticoran Hauptman Cartel. ( ) Manticoran freighters were generally part of the Royal Manticoran Merchant Marine, carrying the prefix "RMMS" (Royal Merchant Marine Ship). Passenger Liner A passenger liner was a type of civilian vessel used to transport a large amount of people. They were comparable to both the jumbo jets and cruise ships of the 20th and 21st Century CE rolled into one. [[RMMS Artemis|RMMS Artemis]] was an example of this ship type. ( ) Survey Vessel A survey vessel was a type of vessel used to scout of unmapped sectors of space and unexplored planets. They were equipped for long term sustainability and packed sophisticated scientific equipment. [[HMS Harvest Joy|HMS Harvest Joy]], a converted cruiser, was an example of this ship type. Warship Types Ship Classes and Abbreviations by Mass * LAC —- Light Attack Craft * FG —- Frigate * DD —- Destroyer * CL —- Light Cruiser * CA —- Heavy Cruiser * BC —- Battlecruiser * BC(P) —- Battlecruiser pod-layer * BB —- Battleship * DN —- Dreadnought * CLAC —- LAC Carrieralso infrequently listed by hull type variant, such as DNV for Dreadnought Variant * SD —- Superdreadnought * SD(P) —- Superdreadnought pod-layer Battlecruiser The battlecruiser (often abbreviated as BC) was a warship type used in first and second rate national navies. It was the smallest ship class that was designated as a capital ship. Battlecruisers were designed to straddle the line between medium combatants and heavier combatants, being both fast and well armed and armored. Their design featured some internal compartmentalization and redundancy to help protect against battle damage, but not as much as ships of the wall. Battlecruisers' roles centered primarily on raiding and serving as a heavy screening unit for other capital ships. Battlecruisers were ideal for commerce raiding since it compelled the enemy to deploy a disproportionate number of battlecruisers to defend against the raids. Similarly, BCs were used in raiding a system since their speed allowed them to run away from any ship larger than a BC. Battlecruisers also served as the heavy combat element and flagship for light task groups. Battlecruiser Pod-layer The pod-laying variant was a battlecruiser hull that had been modified to have a hollow core where it could store racks of missile pods, thus protecting them from proximity or "soft" kills, same as with the pod-laying superdreadnought. Battleship Battleships (often abbreviated to BB) were an obsolescent capital ship class by the time of the First Haven-Manticore War. They were larger than the battlecruiser, massing between two and four million tons. The battleship occupied an uneasy space between the better armed and armored dreadnought and the faster, cheaper battlecruiser. On a ton-for-ton basis, a larger ship of the wall was more deadly than a battleship due to sturdier construction techniques and higher proportional tonnage that could be devoted to weapons. Because of this, no major naval power built battleships, though some nations, such as the People's Republic of Haven, maintained them as rear area defensive units. LAC carrier LAC carriers (nearly always abbreviated to CLAC) were to act as motherships to wings of light attack craft (LAC). Size of CLACs varied and was primarily a function of the 'LAC Doctrine' of the nation constructing the ship. For example Manticore favoured Dreadnought-sized Carriers because it visualized LACs as an offensive platform and a fast 'carrier' could serve as an effective adjunct to a raiding force. Haven primarily utilized LACs as screening elements for its Wall of Battle, this meant it could afford to build slower superdreadnought-sized carriers allowing it to field more LACs for a given number of hulls. ( ) While none had yet been built by the Second Haven-Manticore War, a small 'escort CLAC' was a potentially viable option for a small navy interested in LAC based power projection. Destroyer The destroyer (often abbreviated as DD) was a warship type used in most national navies. Destroyers were small vessels usually tasked with duties such as picketing, escorting, reconnaissance, and other similar duties. Destroyers were larger than frigates, typically massing between 65,000 to 80,000 tons. Dreadnought The dreadnought (abbreviated to DN) was a warship type that was employed by first-rate navies. Dreadnoughts, along with superdreadnoughts and battleships, were classified as ships of the wall. Dreadnoughts ranged between 5 and 6.5 million tons. Frigate The frigate was a type of warship employed by many national navies, smaller than a destroyer, and mainly used for such duties as picketing, to escort convoys, and other roles reserved for small vessels. This type grew increasingly obsolete by advances in weapons and drone technology, such that by the late 1800s PD, no major naval power deployed them, though a squadron of twelve frigates was privately commissioned and built in the Manticore System for the use by the Anti-Slavery Leaguethough in reality they where effectively under control of the Audubon Ballroom and eventually became the core of the Royal Torch Navy. Heavy cruiser Heavy cruisers (often abbreviated to CA for "Cruiser, Armored") were a medium combatant. Heavy cruisers were designed for longer term independent action as a system picket, heavy commerce protection unit, and as a screening unit for capital ships. Heavy cruisers ranged between 160 and 350 thousand tons. LAC The term 'LAC' was an abbreviation for Light Attack Craft. LACs were intrasystem craft, incapable of entering hyperspace. Their traditional roles had been that of very light picket ship and for customs duties. ( ) Third or fourth tier states such as those on the verge of the Solarian League often had navies entirely composed of LACs. ( ) Improved technology and the advent of the CLAC had reinvigorated the LAC as a war-fighting vessel near the end of the First Haven-Manticore War. ( ) Light cruiser Light cruisers (often abbreviated to CL) were similar in function to the destroyer. Whereas destroyers typically carried all lasers for an energy armament, light cruisers typically managed to cram in the larger, more destructive graser. It was most commonly used for reconnaissance, commerce protection, and commerce raiding. The average tonnage was between 90 and 150 thousand tons. Q-ship A Q-ship was a military vessel designed to look like a merchantman. They may have been built from the keel out as Q-ships, or converted from existing merchant ships. The Q-ship, [[PMSS Sirius|PMSS Sirius]], under the service of the People's Republic of Haven was disguised as an ''Astra'' class freighter. ( ) Manticoran Q-ships were listed on the admiralty's books as HMAMC (His/Her Majesty's Armed Merchant Cruiser). ( ) Superdreadnought The superdreadnought was a type of warship employed by large national navies, such as the Republic of Haven Navy, and the Royal Manticoran Navy. They were the largest warships to be built, with tonnage ranging between 7 and 9 million tons. They were grouped with the dreadnought and the battleship classifications as ships of the wall. ( ) Superdreadnought Pod-layer The pod-laying variant (or "podnought") was a superdreadnought hull that had been modified to have a hollow core where it could store racks of missile pods, thus protecting them from proximity or "soft" kills. This also allowed a greater number or pods to be carried into battle, and podnoughts could "hand off" pods to other ships in the same formation to tow, although fire-control was still provided by the podnought itself. ( ) Small craft Cutter A cutter was a small vessel used to transport personnel and material between vessels, to stations, and to planets. A cutter was too small to have an impeller wedge. Pinnace A pinnace was a type of shuttle with a capacity for about 100 personnel. Is normally armed, able to form a wedge, and was capable of high acceleration. :The ''Ouragan''-class was an example of a pinnace deployed by the People's Republic of Haven around 1905 PD. Shuttle The shuttle was a type of small intrasystem vessel that used to ferry officers, crewmembers, and equipment between spacecraft, space stations, planets, and other locations ( ). Assault configurations were also possible. ( , HHA4) References Category:Spacecraft Category:Ship Types